Labor Day 2024: Union impact big and small

Labor Day is Sept. 2 and this time of year, more than any other, I find myself reflecting on America’s labor unions. Unionized workers made significant gains through their collective action during the past 12 months:

• The United Auto Workers notched two major victories for workers – historic new contracts with the Big Three automobile manufacturers and an organizing win at the Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen plant. 
• Several Hollywood entertainment unions representing actors, writers, production crews, musicians and other craftspeople reached new deals with the film and television industry that contained significant economic advances as well as protections for their members from the increasing use of artificial intelligence. 
• Labor unions representing pilots and flight attendants continued to deliver on their promises to their members by negotiating contracts that buoyed the economic security of airline industry workers. 
• The International Brotherhood of Teamsters reached a new 5-year contract with Anheuser-Busch, boosting pay, benefits and job security for about 5,000 union-represented employees.

We know about these advances because they arose from labor disputes – strikes or the prospect of one – that garnered lots of attention because they were in industries the media finds compelling. But these agreements don’t begin to tell the story of all the advances unions brought to workers in 2024. Across the country, in workplaces large and small, and in both the private and public sectors that many of us haven’t heard of, workers moved the economic needle through their collective voices and by the unions they chose to represent them. 

For example, about 100 SEIU-represented nursing home workers in upstate New York ratified an agreement that boosts pay and benefits and helps with staff recruitment and retention. In Minneapolis, a Laborers’ local union secured financial gains and improved union security for the city’s park workers. Contemporary art museum workers in western Massachusetts won the wage increases they sought  after a 3-week strike that was not front page news. And while Starbucks and Workers United continue their efforts to reach a comprehensive agreement after establishing a framework for negotiations, workers at the smaller and lesser-known Ultimo Coffee in Philadelphia achieved their first barista contract. 

Union gains extend well beyond the bargaining table. Day in and day out unions help ensure safe workplaces, assist workers unfairly fired get their jobs back and positively impact local communities. And although big strikes are more likely to garner front page headlines, unions also collaborate collegially with the employers whose employees they represent through labor-management partnerships to achieve the mutually beneficial goal of bettering workplaces and strengthening the economy without strikes or other economic disruptions.  

As we enjoy the holiday from work and mourn the passing of another summer, let’s all take a moment this Labor Day to remember what unions did for American workers this past year.

Interested in learning more about labor unions? Visit the Worker Organizing Resource and Knowledge Center – the WORK Center – the department’s one-stop shop for workers, employers, unions, students and the public to find information and explore content related to unions and collective bargaining. You can also check out these blogs for more on Labor Day:

• Thank You, Unions
• Labor Day Around the World

Jeffrey Freund is the director of the Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.